Hadley Jean turns 5!

At our house, a birthday is something we don't take lightly. We love to celebrate. Multiple times, all month long if necessary. I'm so thankful that all of our kids birthdays are spread out, because then the spotlight is really on them. And maybe it's because I'm bitter that my birthday was in the summer, and my half birthday was over Christmas break so I never got to celebrate it at school. (Sorry P - same goes for you my love!) but I just love birthdays. That doesn't even mean we go overboard (occasionally we do), but in a house full of girls, I love to make them feel special.

And on September 28, my darling Hadley Jean turned 5 years old. I don't even know how it happened, because time certainly did not have my permission to pass so quickly. I can still remember the day she was born. She was the only one who arrived when planned! I want to laugh and cry at the same time when I think about her going off to kindergarten next year. Sigh. Such is the life of a Mother.

We certainly spoiled our sweet girl this year. We kicked off the celebrations the same day as Parker's baptism with family. I made the most delicious and wickedly simple buttermilk raspberry cake with homemade whipped cream and fresh raspberries.

You loved every single gift you received, and your favorite? Once again, easter eggs filled with candy. Uncle Adam certainly know the way to your heart.

Aunt Jaime got you new ballerina pajamas, and told you they were for your annual Halloween slumber party. You took that very seriously and refuse to wear them until you've had your slumber party. If only you could follow other directions that well :)

On your actual birthday we carried on the birthday donut tradition. We headed to Dunkin Donuts, and they gave you a pink donut for free. You would've thought they gave you the moon! I hope you always keep that child-like excitement, because it really is the little things that make life so wonderful.

For quite a while you've been telling us you want to be a dentist when you grow up - always the practical one ;) So naturally I bought you scrubs for your birthday. And let me just tell you, that unfortunately one trait you inherited from your dear Mother is that you're very particular about the most random things. And for whatever reason, you under no circumstances wanted to try on the scrubs. However, I finally got you to try them on after re-assuring you one million times that you could still be Anna for Halloween. And it's quite possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen. 5 year olds in scrubs? Adorable. Scrubs with your name on them? I die.

If it's not moving, monogram it. That's my motto :) This probably stems from having the most popular girls name as a child, so I wanted my name and/or initials on everything. I promise you'll appreciate it someday. (Oh and just ask Aunt Nanie about her birth certificate!)

The celebrations continued at school with the repeat request of pink cupcakes with sprinkles. Done and done. And finally it was time for your birthday party with friends! I'm convinced that the anticipation of the party is just as exciting as the actual party. We lucked out again with the weather, park parties are always a toss up. But you had a great time with your pre-school pals.

We went with a pretty simple pink and green theme this year. All you wanted was cupcakes with sprinkles. Done and done. I added in the fruit snacks and goldfish, pretty successful for the pre-school crowd. It wasn't quite as extravagant as your 4th birthday, 3rd birthday,  or your 1st birthday (and I just realized I never blogged your 2nd birthday (which was my fav!) #blogfail. BUT with a 3 month old, this was as good as it gets this year, and you couldn't have cared less. There were cupcakes! and fruit snacks! and juice boxes! WIN.

 You were SUPER excited to wear this outfit, and I am SO thankful the weather allowed it. We got it in the mail from my cousin Karen months ago, and you would remind me about every other day that it was reserved special for your birthday party.

Cupcakes for the win.

It was too windy to actually light the candle, but you didn't care. Remember? There were cupcakes! And fruitsnacks! And juice boxes!

Parker was napping when we left, so Daddy stayed home with her for awhile and they came late. You thought that was better than the presents. Keep that enthusiasm about your sister forever would you?

Funny story. Your party started at 12:30, because that's what time the park had open for reservations. We were so busy that morning we forgot to eat lunch. You and Gracen were SO excited that I told you it was ok because you could have goldfish and fruitsnacks and cupcakes. You did not know what to do with yourselves because you got dessert before lunch. (In my defense, Daddy was working on the kitchen putting up the backsplash, so yes unfortunately the procrastinator in me left the cupcakes until that morning so yes, for one day, you had cupcakes! and fruitsnacks! and juiceboxes! for lunch.)

Happy birthday sweet girl!!! Your love for life is contagious, and your sass is out of this world. I will always encourage your enthusiasm and zest for life. I can't wait to see you grow and learn and if you stick with becoming a dentist :)

Age 1,2,3,4 I can't wait for family pics again in a month!

April Fools!

Today my sweet Gracen Marie turns five. I started this blog about 6 months after she was born, so today in honor of her special day I thought I would share her birth story. (Brace yourself - it's long!)

My official due date was April 15th. I had a very rough pregnancy with her, she was breech and I had low amniotic fluid. In the last trimester I had a doctor's appt every Friday for a sonogram and stress tests for the little miss (little ? at the time). I was incredibly anxious because I was desperate to find out if it was a boy or girl, but every single week at the sonogram the lil bambino was in such a tight ball they couldn't tell. I think total I had around 10-12 sonograms, it was like pure torture! The last 3-ish weeks I was ordered to bed rest. It was a long and boring 3 weeks. One can only watch so much day time television.

My surgery (c-section) due to her position and my low fluids was scheduled for April 10th, to avoid the possibility of me going in to labor first. Emergency c-sections are much harder on me and the papuschka to recover from than a scheduled one. I know that there are an over abundance of c-sections today that could have been avoided, but to be honest I was glad I needed one. I was terrified as it was of everything, and my total control freak nature was straight up relieved to have a plan in place and a specific date to anticipate. Little did we know Lil Miss had a plan of her own.

I had a lot of trouble sleeping towards the end, and was very uncomfortable pretty much all the time. So it was no surprise to me that in the middle of the night I was wide awake. I got up to pee (for the millionth time) but this time it was different, my water broke. Only I didn't know that's what it was. It was about 1:00am and I woke up the Mr. panicking. Something's wrong something's wrong is all I could get out. I was not prepared in the slightest for my water to break. Luckily the Mr. is a little better in these types of situations than I am, and after turning on the lights figured out there was no blood, our bambino just decided to make her debut early.

After I ultimately calmed down - I think I just went in to shock. The Mr. asked if he had time to brush his teeth/make some coffee to wake up before making the 45 minute drive to the hospital. I think at this point my adrenaline took over, because I remember being very calm. It's ok, it's ok, Women have babies everyday! (name that  movie). I was like normally the first baby takes 12 hours right? Go ahead take a shower! I'm good. So I patiently - seriously looking back there was divine intervention because that is SO not my personality - waited for him to get ready, threw together a bag (again totally unprepared) and headed to the hospital.

I don't remember any sort of contractions. All I remember is being VERY uncomfortable and not being able to sit down in the car. Finally we arrived at the hospital, and they found me a wheelchair (at this point it was difficult to walk) and brought me to the maternity wing. When they finally brought the on call doc in to check me, I was at a 9. A NINE. DO YOU KNOW WHAT MEANS? It means you're like 5 seconds away from having a baby. (or something like that). At this point everyone went in to rush mode. I kept telling them I needed to push. Due to my low fluids they wouldn't even attempt to manually flip her so I could deliver naturally. They kept telling me it was too bad she was breach, because this would be a quick delivery! Which is of course EXACTLY what every woman in my position wants to hear at that exact moment. The anesthesiologist took his sweet ass time, and since it looked like everyone else was panicking, I started to panick. Which was not good. For anyone.

I started screaming telling the Mr. to go find another damn drug doctor because this baby wasn't waiting on anyone. They put in my catheter which I was so distracted I couldn't even tell. They also put in my IV which again I could feel nothing - thank you adrenaline! Finally, FINALLY the anesthesiologist showed up. He explained what was going to happen and that the Mr. could not be in there with me when they gave me my spinal. I started to cry. I was exhausted, terrified, and about to be sliced open. When it was time for my spinal, I was so uncomfortable from the contractions (at least that's what they tell me they were), that I didn't even feel the needle. And people this isn't your average needle. It's like the size of a ruler. For reals. Once the Mr. was allowed back in, they asked if I wanted them to place a mirror on the ceiling so I could watch.

UM HELL NO. Ain't nobody want to see that. I would have straight up passed out. The actual surgery was so surreal. I could feel them moving me and pulling the baby out - but was totally numb. After I heard that first glorious cry and that it was a girl I started to cry. And even though the whole thing was over maybe 2.5 hours after my water broke, it seemed like eternity and 2 minutes all at the same time.

From here things get a little blurry. I don't even remember the discussion of naming her. I always liked Grayson for a boy, and Greenlee for a girl. At some point the Mr. suggested Gracen for a girl, and the rest is history.

Not a single person believed us when we started calling our families. She was born around 4am, and we waited until I think 7ish to start calling. It took a lot of self restraint to wait that long. And honestly we didn't even remember that it was technically April Fool's Day. They only started to believe us once we said it was a girl and her name was Gracen Marie. Weighing in at 9lbs. 2 oz. that turkey was donezo. I don't blame her!

It was one of the scariest/happiest days of my life all rolled into one. I don't think you can totally be able to grasp the concept of unconditional love until you see that little baby that you just brought into the world staring up at you, completely reliant on you. I have no idea how 5 years have gone by since that day.

Gracen Marie you turned my world upside down! I don't even remember what life was like without you in it. The world is your oyster my sweet princess, and I cannot wait to see what life has in store for you, or what you have in store for it!

Happy 3rd Birthday Hadley Jean!

Today my sweet baby Hadley Jean turns 3. It has been an incredible journey, and it's hard to even thing about life before her entrance into the world. So in honor of her birthday, I thought I'd share the story of the day she was born.

My surgery (repeat c-section) was scheduled for Monday morning bright and early at 8am! When you have a c-section, you can't eat for 12 hours before surgery, so the earlier, the better. I'm pretty sure I did not sleep a wink the entire night before. I was SO anxious. When Gracen was born I had an emergency c-section, and this time since I made it to my planned date it made me nervous that I didn't know what to expect without all the doctors and nurses rushing around in a panic to distract me. I finally "woke up" around 5am to shower and get ready. You better believe that I braided my hair and put on makeup this time. With Gracen it was 2am and let's just say I don't break out those pics very often. Aunt Nanie had driven up the night before to stay with Gracen while we were in the hospital, and at 6:00am we were off!

The Mr. was in charge of her name this time. I told him that he could pick (I did have to agree though, and in case it was terrible I did have full veto power) as long as it went with the middle name Jean (my middle name, my Mom's middle name and my Grandmas middle name). Well of course he waits until the last second possible, ON THE WAY TO THE HOSPITAL, to give me his top 3 choices. I liked all 3 of them, so I told him to pick one. He decided to wait until he saw her to officially name her.

We arrived at the hospital around 6:15 got all hooked up and then very impatiently waited for my anesthesiologist. I'm still not sure why we had to be there so early, that 2 hour wait seemed to literally crawl by.

FINALLY (late might I add) they wheeled me in to surgery, and within 15 minutes of getting my spinal, she was out. Pink, screaming, and perfect.

Daddy finally chose a name, Hadley Jean. She was born at 9:11am and I was so excited to finally get to meet her and know her name!

Holding my sweet bambino for the first time! As they were sewing me up, I lost quite a bit of blood. Too much blood. So things from here get a little fuzzy. All I know is that I was very tired, and very cold. They whisked Hadley away from me and I remember being wheeled back to my prep room where they had a sleeping bag type dealio (very technical terms here) around me that was heated trying to get my body temperature back up. There were many wires and other contraptions (see very technical) hooked up to me and monitoring me and many doctors/nurses in and out deciding whether or not I needed a blood transfusion.  Say what? Am I dying? (SPOILER ALERT: I live!) At this point my Dad and Michelle were both there, and I was pretty much in and out of consciousness. After who knows how long the executive decision was made that I would not need a blood transfusion, as long as my body temperature rose and they did have to continue to monitor me. I think it was scarier for other people then it was for me, because honestly I had no clue what was going on. The only thing I was concerned with was when I got to hold the peanut again and when I got to eat. Luckily my body temp came back up eventually and they got to move me to my recovery room, where Gracen got to meet her baby sister for the very first time.

"Her" baby :)

Very first visitors!

Aunt Nanie!

Snoozin with Daddy on the hospital couch (and yes both c-sections he stayed with me all 4 days in the hospital sleeping on the couch - best.husband.ever!)

I cannot believe my sweet Hadley Jean is already three years old. It's been an incredible joy and blessing to be her Mama. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for this lil lady. The world is your oyster Hadley Jean, Happy Birthday!!!!